


family matters

by enamuko



Series: FE Polyweek 2k17 [5]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 01:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12025020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enamuko/pseuds/enamuko
Summary: Being a family man and the Exalt can be difficult, but Chrom is certain he's up to the task, especially with Robin and Tharja there to support him.





	family matters

**Author's Note:**

> A commenter (@Invisible_Prince) mentioned on my last Chrom/f!Robin/Tharja piece (for the summer rarepair week) that it would be interesting to see something about little Morgan's birth. This isn't quite that, but it does have some little Morgan goodness, as well as the rest of the family. This is just a family I really love to write about!

The loud cry of a baby cut through the palace halls.

Chrom groaned. Lucina’s birth had conditioned both him and Robin to wake up at the slightest noise from her—after Noire was born, Robin started showing less… _enthusiasm_ , but he’d remained ever vigilant. (Tharja, of course, slept quite soundly through it all, or at least pretended she did… when she wasn’t still awake working on whatever dark magics she was into at the time.)

With Morgan, he was starting to see Robin and Tharja’s wisdom. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tend to his crying child, but he’d learned early on that sometimes babies just cried for no reason—Lucina had always been a very quiet baby, unless she genuinely needed something or was upset, but Noire more than once had woken up in the middle of the night crying and already been asleep again by the time he got to her.

(Her nurse had explained to him that sometimes babies just cried because they were tired and couldn’t get to sleep, because babies didn’t really have another way of expressing their emotions yet. Chrom wished he could be so lucky.)

Morgan, though. Morgan was a wild card. He was fussier than Lucina had been, but was certainly a much happier baby than Noire. Sometimes he’d go for a whole week without waking up once during the night; sometimes it would be days on end before Chrom managed to get a good night’s sleep. And through it all, only Robin could consistently calm him down.

“Robin.” Speaking of which… “Robin, Morgan is crying.” He rolled over to hiss directly into Robin’s ear, not wanting to wake Tharja up. She could be… _cranky_ when she was woken up in the middle of the night.

Robin grumbled in her sleep and rolled over to face him. He reached out to tap the tip of her nose; she cracked an eye open just enough to glare at him in the darkness.

“That sounds like a personal problem,” she muttered and rolled over.

Well… he couldn’t blame her for being cranky. It had been one of the bad weeks, and there had been several nights when Morgan just plain wouldn’t go to sleep until Robin walked him around the entire palace.

 _Nothing for it, then._ Oh so carefully he tried to crawl out of bed from between his two wives. As soon as he tried to climb over Tharja’s legs, she stuck her knees up so his legs were caught in hers, causing him to fall out of bed and onto his face.

He muttered a few aborted curse words as he stood up and rubbed his nose. He just barely caught the smirk on Tharja’s supposedly sleeping face as she rolled over to take his place snuggled up to Robin. Even if she couldn’t see it—mostly because her face was buried in Robin’s back—he stuck his tongue out at her.

Chrom expected to see Morgan’s nurse bouncing him by the time he got to the nursery; he was surprised to find Noire there instead. Morgan wasn’t crying as hard as he had been, but he was still fussing and kicking even as Noire walked him around the room and bounced him.

“F-father! Sorry… I tried getting him back to sleep, but he’s kind of fussy…” She patted him on the back to burp him, but Morgan just squirmed in her arms and let out a little whimper.

“You didn’t have to do that, Noire! You should be in bed. But thank you.” He held his arms out for Noire to pass him Morgan. He fussed as he was handed over, but he stopped squirming quickly enough once Chrom got him settled into the crook of his arm.

“Wow… you’re really good at that, father.” Noire looked genuinely impressed—and tired. He wondered if Morgan’s crying woke her up or if she’d had a nightmare. It wouldn’t have been the first time…

“I should hope so; I’ve gotten a lot of practice. This is my third time doing this, after all.” He didn’t mention that she’d been the source of most of that practice. She probably would appreciate that very much.

“I checked to see if he needed changing or if he was gassy, but he doesn’t seem to be… I guess he’s just having trouble sleeping.” Noire hovered around, watching as he bounced Morgan and wandered the perimeter of the room.

“Babies can just get like that sometimes,” Chrom said. “He would probably go right to sleep if Robin were here… but I’ll manage, somehow.”

He started humming as he wandered and bounced. Still being half asleep, he found himself spacing out and mentally drifting as Morgan gurgled and grunted and made his various baby noises in his arm.

“I-I remember that song… you used to sing it to me to help me sleep when I was little.”

Noire startled him, appearing right behind his shoulder as if out of nowhere—though he realized he’d probably just lost track of her while he was sleepily wandering around.

“Emmeryn used to sing it to me,” he explained. “And to your Aunt Lissa, when we were little. When she used to sing it, we’d fall right asleep…” He looked down at the very much still awake Morgan. “I guess she was a better singer than I am.”

“D-don’t feel bad, father. Like you said, Morgan only calms down right away for mum.” Noire laughed nervously.

“That’s true enough.” Chrom chuckled as he bounced Morgan; at least he was no longer crying, even if he didn’t seem ready to go back to sleep. “Would you like to join me while I walk him around the palace? That always seems to get him to sleep… I mean, if you’re not ready to head back to bed. I wouldn’t blame you if you were.”

“N-no! I’d love to! And I’ll hold him for a while if you want me to…”

“Well then… let’s get this little guy to sleep.”

 

* * *

 

“…and so they expect the yield to be late this year, but larger than expected. Any questions, milord? …milord? …Lord Chrom, are you asleep?”

Chrom’s head snapped up where he had it resting against his fist. He made an undignified snorting noise.

“No! No, not at all. Just resting my eyes, Frederick.”

“…of course, milord. And while you were resting your eyes, did you happen to hear anything I said?” Frederick asked, the sigh of exasperation implied rather than overt.

“I… might have missed one or two things.” Chrom blushed at having to admit that he hadn’t been listening. “I’m sorry, Frederick. I was up half the night trying to get Morgan back to sleep.”

“Ah, yes. Prince Morgan is at that age, isn’t he? It was a terrible relief when Cynthia started sleeping through the night. Getting a solid three hours of sleep is important for me to fulfill my duties.” Frederick smiled brightly at him.

“Right…” Chrom smiled and let out a nervous little laugh, wondering if Frederick said things that sounded absurd on purpose or if he was just that oblivious. “I promise I’m awake now. Can we go over that again…?”

Before Frederick could start from the top, the door to his chambers burst open—probably because, judging by the number of kids she had in hand, Tharja had to kick it open instead of using more traditional means.

She carried Morgan in the crook of one arm, ignoring the way he tried to grab her long front hair strands. The little Noire sat on her other arm, sniffling and hiding her face in Tharja’s shoulder, probably wiping her snot all over Tharja’s cape.

“She had a bad dream and wanted you,” Tharja said, completely ignoring Frederick as she swept past him and walked right up to Chrom. Little Noire sniffled some more and reached for him as Tharja bent at the knees to be more on his level.

“Aww, you had a bad dream? Come here.” He put his arms out and let Tharja hand Noire over to him. She let out a few more sniffles as took hold of his shirt and gripped it like her life depended on it. He gently pet Noire’s hair as she whimpered against him.

“Perhaps we should continue this later, Lord Chrom?” Frederick suggested. He cast a rather unfriendly look at her out of the corner of his eye, which she ignored completely in favor of dangling her hair over Morgan for him to try to grab.

“Sorry, Frederick,” he said as he bounced Noire on his knee. “But you know…”

“Fatherhood calls. I understand, milord.”

“Perhaps I can help?”

Chrom had been too distracted by Tharja and Noire to notice that Lucina—the older Lucina—had entered the room. Probably because she had made a much quieter entrance than her mother…

“I… realize I’m hardly the Exalt, but if you’re busy, Father, I would be happy to help.” She stood with her hands folded behind her back—painfully formal, in Chrom’s opinion. But that was just Lucina. She could get like that sometimes.

“That would be terrific, Lucina. What do you think, Frederick?”

“If you trust Lady Lucina to make decisions on your behalf, then I will gladly trust the judgement of both of you,” he replied.

“You know, if there’s not enough of you to go around, you could always let me try to make a copy of you… all I would need is a little bit of hair, maybe some fingernail trimmings, a bit of blood…” Tharja chuckled darkly; at the same time, she tickled Morgan’s stomach, making him giggle. The mixture of sounds was… unsettling.

“Thanks for the offer, Tharja… but I think I’ll manage.” Where Frederick looked unsettled and a little bit ill, Chrom was used to such comments. Tharja rolled her eyes.

“Suit yourself.”

Chrom looked down at the young Noire, who was still sniffling against him. He started rubbing her back and got up from his chair, sitting her on one of his arms.

“Noire, let’s go have a walk in the garden. We can look at all the nice flowers… would you like that?”

“Mhm.” Noire looked up at him with big, tear-filled eyes that she tried to rub away with her little fists as he carried her out of the meeting chamber.

“Now, Lady Lucina, if you would take a look at this map…”

 

* * *

 

“And then Aunt Lissa took me to get a new dress… and Aunt Maribelle showed me her horse and let me go for a ride with her!”

“Really? Was it fun?”

“Yes! It was kind of scary… but Aunt Maribelle made sure I didn’t fall!”

Luci held Chrom’s hand as they walked around the courtyard; Chrom swung their arms rhythmically, and Luci hummed a tune he didn’t recognize.

“Can you swing me?”

Lucina looked up at him with big eyes, then looked over to the person who was holding onto her other hand—Morgan. He and Chrom shared a look, then nodded to each other.

“Hang on tight, Luci! One… two… three!”

Morgan and Chrom each hoisted her up by one of her hands and swung her, to loud and enthusiastic laughter. When she landed back on her feet she stumbled slightly, but regained her footing quickly.

“Again! Again!”

“One… two… three!”

It took a few more rounds before Luci decided she was tired of being swung, by which time they’d reached her section of the courtyard—a little play area they’d set up when his wife had first gotten pregnant. There was a sand pit, a swing hanging from a tree branch, and a chest of toys—usually a play session ended with them strewn about everywhere, but Frederick was quite vigilant about making sure they were all put back where they belonged, and Luci was getting good about putting her toys away when she was done playing with them.

Luci ran off to dig through her toy chest as Chrom sat on the bench that looked over the play area. It was one of those rare quiet moments where he had nothing to immediately worry about, and all he wanted to do was sit in the sun and enjoy some quality quiet time.

Morgan sat next to him and emulated the way he sank into the wooden bench like it was the most comfortable, plush chair he’d ever sat on.

“So, Morgan… any luck getting your memory back yet?” He often felt like he didn’t get to spend enough time with his son. The children demanded so much of his attention, the older Lucina was often around to help him with managing the kingdom, and Noire gravitated towards him just like her younger self did… but Morgan spent so much time with Robin, he felt like he often didn’t get to see him.

“Just a few bits and pieces… nothing substantial. But it’s alright! Noire and Lucina said they’d do whatever it takes to help me get my memory back, even if it takes the rest of my life. But I’m not that bothered. Just being here, being able to learn from mother and help out… that’s enough for me.”

Chrom smiled. Morgan’s bright, sunny outlook was infectious. He put his arm around Morgan’s shoulder and gave him a squeeze, which made Morgan grin.

“You’ll get there,” he assured him. “And even if you don’t, you’re always going to have a place here to make new ones.”

“Thank you, father.”

“Papa! Morgan! I… I found a worm!”

Luci came running up to them holding a worm in her hand, proudly showing it off to the two of them.

“Wow, Luci! It’s a big one, too!” Morgan laughed. “But let’s put it back in its home, okay? Come on, I’ll help you find a good muddy place…”

Well, Frederick was going to have a time of it with the kids’ laundry this week… Chrom was just glad he wasn’t the one crawling under bushes and into the mud.

“Having fun?”

As Morgan and Lucina crawled around on their hands and knees, Chrom leaned back onto the arms that wrapped around him from behind. When he tilted his head back he found himself looking up at Robin, he smiled.

“Definitely,” he said as she leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. “Are you done with your work?”

“Mm. I never realized how much work went into writing letters…” She sighed and rested her chin on his forehead, trapping him there. “But I’ve written all the letters to the Plegian council, and I wrote to let Flavia and Basilio know how we’re doing. So it looks like I’m done for the day.”

“Then join us! Our current activity is rehoming worms, but I’m sure we’ll get bored and find something else to do soon enough.”

“Ooh, sounds like my kind of fun!”

Robin dropped onto the bench next to him, releasing him from her torment, and put her head on his shoulder. Chrom tilted his head to rest it atop hers as they watched two of their children crawl around in the mud—and couldn’t be happier.

 

* * *

 

Chrom felt _exhausted_. It was funny—when he was just a prince and spent all day training, even if he went to bed battered and bruised, he always felt pleasantly tired. Now that he had to run the kingdom and spent most of his day in different kinds of meetings—diplomatic, economic, agricultural… now he went to bed every night feeling like he wanted to just sleep for a week.

He stepped into the sitting room that served as the antechamber to his bedroom, and was surprised to find the fireplace stoked with a roaring fire and the room filled with the gentle sound of singing.

On the sofa in front of the fireplace, Tharja sat with the young Noire in her lap and the older Noire leaning against her side. She had a book open in her lap and was reading quietly to them, taking the little Noire’s hand to guide her along the lines as she read them.

(He hoped it was a storybook and not something… unpleasant. You never knew with Tharja.)

Robin was on the other side of the sofa, singing softly to Morgan as she rocked him to sleep; he was already looking quite drowsy. Luci was wedged in next to her and trying to sing along. The older Lucina and Morgan were lying on the floor in front of the fire, pouring over a tome together.

When he stepped into the room, his family all looked up from what they were doing.

“Are you done with work for the day, father?” Noire asked, keeping her voice low so she didn’t wake Morgan.

“As done as I can be,” he replied as he walked over to the sofa. He pressed a kiss to the top of Tharja’s head, then to Robin’s, giving Noire a loving squeeze round the shoulders as he passed. “And more than ready for bed.”

“Father, stay and read a story with us!” Luci said, patting the couch between herself and Noire. Chrom chuckled.

“Alright, alright… just one story.”

He was tired, but for some extra family time, he could sacrifice a bit of sleep.


End file.
